More realistic lighting?

I want the overhead lighting in this scene to behave more realistically, with it focused down instead of all around and on the ceiling. I have it set up as an “emit” object (the “bulb”_ inside of a box (the “case”). I’m not exactly how best to ask my question, but I can provide any information/screenshots. I’m new to Blender, and an answer to this or any other tips would be greatly appreciated. :slight_smile:


Hi, it is hard to say without knowing how the lamp is build.
Can you append one lamp to a new file and upload it to http://www.pasteall.org/blend/ for example?
Easiest way to append is make a group of all parts of the lamp and append the group in a new file.
You can upload the whole file but some user don´t want publish there work to everyone.

Append: https://jtheninja.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/121/

Cheers, mib

That’s Blender Internal, right? I’m not exactly sure how much sense an emitter mesh à la Cycles does make in BI…

Emissive materials are a kind of indirect light, therefore they by default don’t illuminate other objects around them in BI. You will have to enable Indirect Lighting in the world settings (which I think you already have) and even then the lighting model is very much simplified (plane emitter mesh produces circular light cone etc.).

What’s worse: AFAIK luminous polygons don’t cast shadows in BI. The latter is exactly your problem here: If the lamp casing does not cast a shadow, the light will penetrate through it and hit the ceiling above. I think you might be better off using area lights.

One “food-for-thought” idea might be helpful here:

There are two kinds of ‘light’ in any CG scene: (1) the lights that provide “necessary illumination,” and (2) those that provide “noticeable, dramatic effect.”

“This is not ‘the Real World.’ This is computer graphics!”

Start by “basically, illuminating your scene.” Ambient-light is made for this. Make sure that there are no “totally-opaque blacks,” and of course no “blown-out whites.” Create an utterly-dull, utterly-bland backdrop/i] upon which drama can be added.

Then, [i]separately, add drama. These are incremental lighting effects, often created by “remarkably dim” lights, often of unusual and dramatic colors.

What you should wind up with are two separate lighting channels: one “dull as donuts,” the other, “nothing much {more}.”